" ...the archbishop's task is to convince Catholics that religious freedom is under attack in the United States and that religious traditionalists, in particular, are victims of something akin to racism and xenophobia."

Who the fark is stopping you? Let the rest of us not have to listen to your hypocritical pious bullshiat and you guys can go off and wear your fabulous hats and worship your zombie Jew to your hearts' content.

As the leader of the church's largest - and perhaps most controversial - effort in a generation or more, the archbishop's task is to convince Catholics that religious freedom is under attack in the United States and that religious traditionalists, in particular, are victims of something akin to racism and xenophobia.

Not that I believe for a moment that Catholics in the US have the faintest clue what it really means to be persecuted, but wasn't the whole reason Mother Teresa lost no sleep over her Home for the Dying in Calcutta- specifically how it isolated and dehumanized the dying- was because "Suffering is sharing Christ's passion"?

Constantine makes you lot rock stars of the Roman Empire, and suddenly "persecution" is what amounts to getting a hangnail nowadays, is it?

Hate to break this to you, but the same right that guarantees you Freedom of Religion also assures us of Freedom FROM Religion.

If you have a problem with contraception as a practicing Catholic, that means it's YOUR problem. Not ours. Quit trying to get laws passed to inflict your misery on the rest of us.

Got a problem with turning a colleague in to the proper authorities who you just happen to know has a DECADES-long history of diddling little boys and girls, you know, instead of shuffling them off somewhere where they can do it again freely? Well, I'm not sure how you could hang on to a belief like that and still sleep at night as the follower of a "benevolent" and "loving" god.

Get your own house in order and we'll take care of ours just fine, thanks. I know I wouldn't have nearly so much of a problem "letting you be Catholics" if you didn't seem to harbor such contempt for "letting us be NOT-Catholics."

simplicimus:" ...the archbishop's task is to convince Catholics that religious freedom is under attack in the United States and that religious traditionalists, in particular, are victims of something akin to racism and xenophobia."

I knew a communications professor at a prominent Catholic University who did a study on Catholic bias in the media back in the 90s. His results were that Catholics were more likely to perceive a bias against them in the media, even if there was no such bias present.

Today's church is so far removed from anything Jesus said/intended, it has no idea what "being Catholic" even means. Combine that with greater than 90% of women in the pews openly ignoring "core doctrine", and you have a leadership biatching to people who stopped listening decades ago.

Grand_Moff_Joseph:Today's church is so far removed from anything Jesus said/intended, it has no idea what "being Catholic" even means. Combine that with greater than 90% of women in the pews openly ignoring "core doctrine", and you have a leadership biatching to people who stopped listening decades ago.

Sorta makes you wonder why people continue to be Catholic if they don't really listen to anything their leaders have to say.

exick:Grand_Moff_Joseph: Today's church is so far removed from anything Jesus said/intended, it has no idea what "being Catholic" even means. Combine that with greater than 90% of women in the pews openly ignoring "core doctrine", and you have a leadership biatching to people who stopped listening decades ago.

Sorta makes you wonder why people continue to be Catholic if they don't really listen to anything their leaders have to say.

exick:Grand_Moff_Joseph: Today's church is so far removed from anything Jesus said/intended, it has no idea what "being Catholic" even means. Combine that with greater than 90% of women in the pews openly ignoring "core doctrine", and you have a leadership biatching to people who stopped listening decades ago.

Sorta makes you wonder why people continue to be Catholic if they don't really listen to anything their leaders have to say.

For me, I still go to have some quiet time to pray and reflect. That's it.

I'd say for most, it's a combination of 'force of habit' and 'family expectations'. Most of the older generations will never understand why/how someone could "stop going to church", so why stir up a family hornet's nest?

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat:I knew a communications professor at a prominent Catholic University who did a study on Catholic bias in the media back in the 90s. His results were that Catholics were more likely to perceive a bias against them in the media, even if there was no such bias present.

Cythraul:exick: Grand_Moff_Joseph: Today's church is so far removed from anything Jesus said/intended, it has no idea what "being Catholic" even means. Combine that with greater than 90% of women in the pews openly ignoring "core doctrine", and you have a leadership biatching to people who stopped listening decades ago.

Sorta makes you wonder why people continue to be Catholic if they don't really listen to anything their leaders have to say.

Catholic Guilt.

yep...and a lot of that comes from the indoctrinated idea that only Catholics are "the real religion". Seriously, when I was going to Catholic high school, we were literally told that even the Jewish folks have it wrong.

But, here's the thing: Each of the world's three main religions - Christian/Judaism/Islam - claim that THEY are the one true church, that THIER god is the one true god, AND their holiest site happens to be on the same patch of ground as all the other guys.

So, at a minimum, two of the three have to wrong, at the end of time, right? Or hell, wouldn't it be awesome if time did end, and it turns out that 'god' is actually Q, and he created all of our religions just to troll us?

Cythraul:Oh yeah, I forgot, stop with the anti-contraception thing too. Did I forget anything else?

They're anti-abortion (they'll let a woman die due to pregnancy complications, even if the fetus dies too)?They oppose euthanasia? They elected the former head of the Inquisition Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith as Pope? They tell parishioners how to vote (sometimes)?

When we were sponsoring those death squads in Central America because the Catholics there had the gall to say that oppressive dictators shouldn't abuse their citizens in order to placate American business interests.

When we were sponsoring those death squads in Central America because the Catholics there had the gall to say that oppressive dictators shouldn't abuse their citizens in order to placate American business interests.

Well, a lot of our current interpretation of the separation of church and state came about because of Protestants fearing Catholics taking over the nation.

Grand_Moff_Joseph:exick: Grand_Moff_Joseph: Today's church is so far removed from anything Jesus said/intended, it has no idea what "being Catholic" even means. Combine that with greater than 90% of women in the pews openly ignoring "core doctrine", and you have a leadership biatching to people who stopped listening decades ago.

Sorta makes you wonder why people continue to be Catholic if they don't really listen to anything their leaders have to say.

For me, I still go to have some quiet time to pray and reflect. That's it.

I'd say for most, it's a combination of 'force of habit' and 'family expectations'. Most of the older generations will never understand why/how someone could "stop going to church", so why stir up a family hornet's nest?

I gave my dad a Catholic funeral because I didn't even want to know what would happen if we didn't. Nobody's really religious at all anymore, but my grandmother is still alive and I have a feeling she'd have a problem with a non-demondenominational cremation.

SkunkWerks:As the leader of the church's largest - and perhaps most controversial - effort in a generation or more, the archbishop's task is to convince Catholics that religious freedom is under attack in the United States and that religious traditionalists, in particular, are victims of something akin to racism and xenophobia.

Not that I believe for a moment that Catholics in the US have the faintest clue what it really means to be persecuted, but wasn't the whole reason Mother Teresa lost no sleep over her Home for the Dying in Calcutta- specifically how it isolated and dehumanized the dying- was because "Suffering is sharing Christ's passion"?

Constantine makes you lot rock stars of the Roman Empire, and suddenly "persecution" is what amounts to getting a hangnail nowadays, is it?

Hate to break this to you, but the same right that guarantees you Freedom of Religion also assures us of Freedom FROM Religion.

If you have a problem with contraception as a practicing Catholic, that means it's YOUR problem. Not ours. Quit trying to get laws passed to inflict your misery on the rest of us.

Got a problem with turning a colleague in to the proper authorities who you just happen to know has a DECADES-long history of diddling little boys and girls, you know, instead of shuffling them off somewhere where they can do it again freely? Well, I'm not sure how you could hang on to a belief like that and still sleep at night as the follower of a "benevolent" and "loving" god.

Get your own house in order and we'll take care of ours just fine, thanks. I know I wouldn't have nearly so much of a problem "letting you be Catholics" if you didn't seem to harbor such contempt for "letting us be NOT-Catholics."

Thank you, you took the words out of my mouth.The thing is, aren't Catholics trying to get these laws passed in order to help save us all for our lives of sin? I have to think that's the case, and if so, good luck getting them to stop.

downstairs:Weaver95: I'm sorry but i'm just not convinced that the church is 'under attack'. Nor do I believe that religious freedom in this country is in danger.

Precisely. But religious people are known to have a major persecution complex.

yeah but we've got megachurches all over the place and I can't walk down main street at the street fair today without running into a church organization/booth every 20 feet. if religion is under attack, then I just don't see it.